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What we all lose in rural West Tennessee's decline

Roy Herron, Guest columnist
Published 10:00 a.m. CT Sept. 15, 2017

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Located 65 miles east of Memphis, Bolivar is poised for growth, say local leaders, but growth so far has eluded Hardeman County, which has lost about 7 percent of its population since 2010.
Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal

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Sixty miles east of Memphis, Bolivar is poised for growth, say local leaders, who tout the quaint town square, bucolic scenery and safe, family-friendly environment. But growth so far has eluded Hardeman County, which has lost about 7 percent of its population since 2010.(Photo: Jim Weber / The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

My family has been in West Tennessee since 1819. My multiple-greats grandfather and his brother-in-law were the first settlers in Weakley County. Soon he came in second only to his later-arrived neighbor Davy Crockett in bear-killing, or so said my mother and Goodspeed’s 1887 History of Tennessee.

Seven generations of our family have lived here in West Tennessee. My brother and I will be the last. My three sons are all grown and graduated from college. All are working and studying in other places. They love their family and friends here, the people who have blessed them so. But, like so many of their talented friends, they will settle in the cities somewhere else.

As The Commercial Appeal's Tom Charlier reported earlier this month, West Tennessee's population is in decline. Of the 21 counties in the region, 15 experienced declines since 2010. The region's overall population lost nearly 1,200, while East and Middle Tennessee continued to grow.

West Tennessee's rural areas are hurting. Our leading exports are our jobs and our young people. I didn’t vote for President Donald Trump, but I think I understand why three-fourths of my neighbors did. They’ve seen their factory jobs sent to other countries, their construction jobs taken by folks from other countries. They’ve seen their children move to our cities if they’re lucky, and to other states if they’re not.

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In the Bolivar area, the economy never fully recovered from the loss of Harman Automotive, which made car mirrors and other products. Located 65 miles east of Memphis, Bolivar is poised for growth, say local leaders, who tout the quaint town square, bucolic scenery and safe, family-friendly environment. But growth so far has eluded Hardeman County, which has lost about 7 percent of its population since 2010.(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

When candidate Trump promised to "build a wall" and "bring our jobs back," it sounded pretty good to so many who’d lost their jobs and their children.

I grew up down the street from the late Governor Ned McWherter. In his 14 years as House Speaker and eight years as governor, and with the help of others like former Congressman John Tanner, Gov. McWherter he did a world of good for our area. We now have a four-lane highway through town, which intersects another new four-lane just six miles away, near the University of Tennessee at Martin. We have some incredible assets here, many of those through Gov. McWherter’s leadership.

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In our town, I remember the shoe factory where Gov. McWherter got his start. The boot factory that followed there. The women’s clothing factory followed in that building by an auto parts manufacturer until it too closed. The factory that made wheels and the equipment manufacturer. The biggest of all was the book printing factory that employed nearly a 1,000, not counting the book distribution plant near it.

I can remember where in our town of 3,000 there were about that many factory jobs. All are gone. Until a manufactured housing plant burned in a nearby town and moved to Dresden, the largest private employer in our hometown was the supermarket. And if you could ship manufactured homes from China, I guess the supermarket would still be the business with the most employees.

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Mostly empty store fronts have been made 'occupant ready' through the work of local investors in Bolivar, Tennessee. Located 65 miles east of Memphis, Bolivar is poised for growth, say local leaders, who tout the quaint town square, bucolic scenery and safe, family-friendly environment. But growth so far has eluded Hardeman County, which has lost about 7 percent of its population since 2010.(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

Maybe NAFTA and the trade deals have been good for the world and maybe they’ve been good for this nation overall. You can look to our nation’s coasts and cities and make that case. But in the rural areas and in the South, especially here in West Tennessee where so many have paid for NAFTA with their jobs and without much to replace them, it’s been tough. Really tough.

My family’s been farming here since that grandfather in the early 1800s. Granddaddy and grandmama farmed full-time, Dad part-time, and I grew up working on our farm. I still remember the old houses where seven families lived on and worked our land. But modern agriculture is so amazingly productive today, farms that once employed seven families probably are not a seventh of one family farm today.

I look at the technological and scientific progress and I know that is good in that all of us pay less for food than we would otherwise. But what about the people who no longer farm?

When our hometown invested in and fancied up the court square, every one of the construction workers (not counting a foreman) that I saw was from another country. I noticed, but probably not like the folks who’d lost their jobs on the farms and in the factories and in construction.

West Tennessee's rural areas are hurting. Our leading exports are our jobs and our young people. That can't continue.

Gov. McWherter often said, "Schools plus roads equal jobs." That was true 30 years ago, and it's still true today, but now "schools" means post-secondary higher education that prepares us for the higher-tech jobs of this new century. And "roads" today means broadband and high-speech internet highways that rural areas often lack. With wise investments in education and technology, our future can brighten again.

Rural Tennesseans have amazing assets and powerful strengths. We have families who love us before we're born and whose goodness continues to bless us even after they die.

We have neighbors who may not be blood kin, but who care for us like we were. Neighbors who help raise us, know more about what we need than we do, and help us more than we can ask.

We have our churches (and a few synagogues) led by pastors and people whose hardships have forced them to their knees and their prayers to the heavens, and a good and gracious God still answers our prayers.

We have a powerful patriotism, led by more military and veterans per capita than anywhere else; strong in our belief in the high ideals that call this nation to fulfill the meaning of our creeds.

We have sacred values that come from families that love us, neighbors that bless us, churches and schools that teach us. We believe that if we love our neighbors and trust in our Creator, work hard and pray hard, God will continue to bless our people and these places we are blessed to call home.

Roy Herron is a former state senator, an author and an attorney who lives in Dresden, Tenn.